According to René from the official forums, the PR machine is starting this month, with magazine reveals in full swing and a complete reveal (including a superawesome trailer) coming this E3. The first of these has been found in a Polish magazine here. (One new screenshot, One new concept art)

It's already late in production (it was started in 2007), so I can't see it getting scrapped now. I would guess it will be set for release either this Xmas or 1st quarter next year. I'm sure we'll get an announcement at E3.

Apart from the aforementioned trailer (which has been described as mind-blowing, knee-jerking and jaw-dropping, in that order, by insiders), Stephan D'Astous has also confirmed that gameplay will be shown at E3.

described as mind-blowing, knee-jerking and jaw-dropping, in that order, by insiders

It's pre-rendered CG, which makes it meaningless (no matter how "mind-blowing" it may be). The gameplay footage will be the real acid test. I'm interested to see what they make of the engine, as TR's gunplay never did much for me. At least any climbing segments should be handled well though.

Btw, when I said announcement in my previous post, I was specifically referring to a release date.

It's pre-rendered CG, which makes it meaningless (no matter how "mind-blowing" it may be). The gameplay footage will be the real acid test. I'm interested to see what they make of the engine, as TR's gunplay never did much for me. At least any climbing segments should be handled well though.

There is a gameplay screenshot from a Polish magazine I linked earlier that looks quite good..

The caption reads that you need aim carefully so that you do not damage enemy augmentations, which, if you don't need yourself, can be sold.

UPDATE

New screenshot revealed by a French magazine, most likely from the same trailer.

CVG have revealed a new image, presumably from the same trailer. This one depicts Adam's apartment, and is very close to the concept art (except in colour theme, which has been appropriately stylised).

User Ashpolt on the Official Forums was kind enough to paraphrase the 6-page preview they just got. This should be first of a long string of reveals. To summarize what he's got:

- DXHR carries over the parts of the DX template, but "reinents them all to be a lot smoother, slicker and more violent than the original."

Health and Energy
- Health Regeneration is confirmed to be in. Localised damage is confirmed to be out.

- Energy will not regenerate at first, but will be increased with small "pips". It regenerates slowly only if its completely knocked out.

- Curiously, you start each mission with a fixed stock. Possibly implying that the game will be broken up into separate missions?

- "We don't want it to be a run and shoot game. If you try to run at the enemies, 2, 3, 4 bullets and you're dead."

Third-Person - Cover and Takedowns
- Third-person is confirmed. There is a full cover-system where Adam can see what's coming at him. Adam can also perform stylish takedowns for which the camera goes to third-person again. So yeah.

-There are apparently dozens of takedown moves, which are contextual, and have a different effect depending on whether you tap the button (non-lethal) or hold it (lethal, involving wrist blades.) "Both are expertly animated, but my main concern with the game is that it might disconnect you from your character: you don't know which move he'll perform, you watch it from third person, and you're not in control."

Augmentations

- Augmentations are bought with cash from "Limb Clinics," and once bought, they are then upgraded with XP to reflect Adam getting used to them. They start with basic functionality, but higher levels add extra features, rather than just making them more powerful.

- In addition to your arms, there are 19 other augs to choose from. Each aug has 4 or 5 extra functions unlocked with XP.

- Hacking minigame confirmed. "You play it on a map of the system's internal workings, trying to capture nodes to ultimately reach the registry. Each node captured carries a chance of detection, and if that happens you have to race to the registry before the system's trace reaches you." Good luck visualising this.

Setting and Conversations

- It is "thick with people" and you can apparently talk to everybody in the game, and not just single pointless lines.

- "You're a security guard who had his arms blown off"

- Conversations are described as "verbal fights", because depending on your actions, you can either "win" (convince people to share info,) draw (they stay tight lipped, but you can keep trying) or lose outright, and they will refuse to talk to you again. The branching conversation trees are so intricate that apparently it takes 6-8 hours for each one (to plan, I assume, rather than each has that many hours of recorded dialogue!)

- Conversations can be quite long, and emotionally heated - more so than we're used to in games.

- No wheel confirmed, but response choices will be single-word directives instead of full sentences. The examples PCG gives are "insist", "advise" and "pinpoint"

- Your pilot is called Faridah Malik. (Do not google this name.)

- There is a hacker called Tong in the game, but it's not Tracer.

- Some Deus Ex characters will make cameos in the game, with their original voice actors reprising roles. No word on who these are, but my money's on Joseph Manderley, Gunther Hermann and Walton Simons.

Stealth

- You can pick up bodies - dead or alive, though I sense only "alive" if they're unconscious - and hide them.

- Guards can revive other unconscious guards.

Super Random Special Feature

- Finally, special mention must go to the Boxguard droid - literally, a robot that unfolds from a perfect cube. Despite my misgivings about parts the rest of the game, whoever designed this deserves a pat on the back, this thing is just awesome and I can't wait to see it in motion.

Screenshots

- Ashpolt updated the thread with some iPhone-quality screenshots. Here's the links:

Some Deus Ex characters will make cameos in the game, with their original voice actors reprising roles. No word on who these are, but my money's on Joseph Manderley, Gunther Hermann and Walton Simons.

You'd think both Anna Navarre and Gunther Hermann would be likely candidates given they were both mech-augs, but isn't 3 supposed to be set way before 1 (i.e. when they were kids or even before they were born)?

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Originally Posted by Sabretooth

Finally, special mention must go to the Boxguard droid - literally, a robot that unfolds from a perfect cube.

- DXHR carries over the parts of the DX template, but "reinents them all to be a lot smoother, slicker and more violent than the original."

I just hope they don't eliminate the choice of playing style with that, railroading it into another Cover Shooter RPG hybrid. One of the charms of Deus Ex was that you could play as everything from a violent maniac who kills anything that moves, to being a sneaky type who are able to finish the entire game without actually killing anyone (except Anna Navarre) without using cheats or exploits.

From what I can tell of that summary it still seems they're aiming closer to the experience of DX:Invisible War than that of the original Deus Ex, though.

You'd think both Anna Navarre and Gunther Hermann would be likely candidates given they were both mech-augs, but isn't 3 supposed to be set way before 1 (i.e. when they were kids or even before they were born)?

It's set in 2027, which is 25 years before the original Deus Ex. In an interview, the art director hinted that mechanical augmentation wasn't just combat-specific, it extended lifespans too (something that's happening in real life), so characters in Deus Ex might have been older than you think...

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Originally Posted by stoffe

I just hope they don't eliminate the choice of playing style with that, railroading it into another Cover Shooter RPG hybrid. One of the charms of Deus Ex was that you could play as everything from a violent maniac who kills anything that moves, to being a sneaky type who are able to finish the entire game without actually killing anyone (except Anna Navarre) without using cheats or exploits.

From what I can tell of that summary it still seems they're aiming closer to the experience of DX:Invisible War than that of the original Deus Ex, though.

Their design philosophy certainly emphasises combat and stealth are both the primary pillars of gameplay, with hacking and social being the secondary pillars. They've explicitly said that they want to move away from Invisible War and towards and Deus Ex, but a lot of disgruntled fans on the official boards agree that they're just trading one set of consolisation mores for another. Out with the universal ammo and in with the cover system.

At one point in the game you need to retrieve some neural chip from a dead man. The thing is, he's locked down at the nearby police station's morgue. Albeit you can enter the "public" part of the police station, accessing the morgue is forbidden. Obviously, you can decide to fight your way in, good luck! Or you might try to convince the front desk officer to let you in. If you do, no violence will be needed, you can explore the place freely. However, that might have lasting consequences on the character that let you in. So, you might meet him again later on in another context where the both of you will need to set the record straight.

If you're more of the "invisible" type of agent, you might want to explore around the building and look for some locked doors that need to be hacked to get in or you might find a roof access through the air duck system. If that's not enough, you might find some nearby sewer system that might just lead you straight to the Police station's morgue. Even though not all missions have that many options, all missions have few options and depending on how you customize your character, some options might not be possible.

Gosh darnit! I probably won't play this game for years. As One: I haven't played the first two and Two: I don't like spending more than 20 bucks for a game nowadays. But I plan on getting the PS2 version of Deus Ex very soon. (No I won't get the PC version, sorry PC fans)

Judging by flygirl's jumpsuit and a quick Google search, "Sarif Industries" has some role to play in the game. Any idea what?

We already know that. Sarif Industries is a leading bioengineering firm, the most experimental in America, and Adam Jensen is the security specialist for what I assume is its head branch in Detroit. The place gets attacked by mysterious assailants, and Adam loses his arms.

However, he ends up alive and with augmented arms, thanks to a mysterious benefactor, and Adam's quest of mystery and intrigue begins. If you scrutinize the previous trailer, Adam's augmentations (most notably his eye augmentations) are manufactured by Sarif Industries. There's also an ad for Sarif on the Detroit city backdrop in the trailer.

The new trailer is going to go live in a few hours. Stay pumped.

Edit: More pictures! Basically high-res versions of the ones from the earlier mag.

I don't like how the helicopters in 2027 have two jet turbines mounted on hydraulic arms, while the helicopters in 2052 have a single rotor and a fan in the back. I don't know, maybe the government ran out of taxpayer's dollars when the NSF started dickin' around?

Though, I must admit, if the trailer is of any indication of the final product, then at least the music sounds reminiscent of the original.

I know the complaints about the game looking too futuristic, having been one of those critics myself. But the future as imagined in 2000 is vastly different from the future as imagined today. Confining themselves to Deus Ex's collapsing future would seem unrealistic to us now, since despite all the **** happening today, the future actually looks better, with better quality of life, better technology, and a human ambition to get bigger and better.

Maybe it does create a divide between HR and the original game, but I can live with that. Considering the thematic and visual gap between the two games, I find it hard to reconcile them to one world anyway. I'm looking at them as alternate universes, tbh.

But the future as imagined in 2000 is vastly different from the future as imagined today.

That doesn't make any sense. If anything the future we imagine today would be less technologically advanced than what we would have thought 10 years ago. You really think anyone expects any of that stuff in the trailer to be a reality in a mere 17 years from now?

Well, I hope this time they work on the gameplay (pokes Sabre),which seems the case. But if they go Silent Hill on me and decide to improve it in detriment to the plot, I'd rather have the clunky mechanics of the previous installments.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarthParametric

That doesn't make any sense. If anything the future we imagine today would be less technologically advanced than what we would have thought 10 years ago. You really think anyone expects any of that stuff in the trailer to be a reality in a mere 17 years from now?

Doesn't matter if we face it as an alternate reality and future. If I want to create an universe where FTL travel is a reality on 1789 what keeps me from doing it stempunkish?

That doesn't make any sense. If anything the future we imagine today would be less technologically advanced than what we would have thought 10 years ago. You really think anyone expects any of that stuff in the trailer to be a reality in a mere 17 years from now?

Maybe not, but it's no less nonsensical than most other cyberpunk timeframes. But if you're looking for a game that's better researched and intelligently developed than Deus Ex, then I don't think a multi-platform release developed by an upstart developer looking for AAA success is going to cut it. I don't think anybody expects this game to match up to the original in terms of *anything*, but if it offers even loosely, the same type of gameplay, then that's something we haven't seen since VtM:B.

It's Deus Ex, so I'll definitely play it. The only thing I'm afraid of is that they don't overdo the visual aspect of those mechanical parts. After all, they didn't look all that spectacular, nor could they transform as much in the first Deus Ex - and DE3 is supposed to be a prequel, so from a timeline perspective, they should be even less advanced than those from the original.

Six hours after the game begins, a flying vehicle resembling the mechanical bird from Ghost in the Shell: Innocence approaches Shanghai. On board are Adam and one Faridah Malik. Our protagonist well be keeping in touch with the girl throughout the 25 minute demonstration. We don't know who Malik works for, and why Adam decided to join them. That's not important right now. In shanghai, Adam is looking for a hacker who weakened Sarif's corporate systems on that fateful day. The hacker's being tracked by several organisations, so he will not be easy to find. Adam goes to a clube called Hive, to gather information from a certain Tom, who apparently knows stuff.

At the door, Jensen is stopped by a black bouncer. He won't let anyone in without a pass. Which he can naturally procure for a small fee. So far, the gameplay was shown in first person, but for the conversation it shifts , showing both characters. The player has to decide whether to pay, fight or look around the building for a back door or ventilation shaft. The player doing the presentation agrees to pay. All in all, a wise decision, as fighting might cause trouble. If you want to, you can kill everyone here - remarks JF provocatively - But know that if you shoot civilians, you'll get the police on your head, and those guys are very hard to take down, though naturally it's doable. Law enforcement won't attempt arrest. "They're not nice", JF says, they'll shoot on sight. Makes sense in a world where anyone can become a cybernetically enhanced killing machine. A moment of doubt can cost dearly. In the club, Jensen converses with a VIP zone bartender. Bastard's tough, he won't be scared or manipulated, the conversation doesn't go well for Adam and he gets told off. He needs to find a way to reach Tom. We have several options - talking to a few people we can find someone who agrees to speak a word to Tom for us for doing a small job for him. On the other hand, you can overhear one of the guards mention he lost his pass card to you-know-who's office, so it might be worth searching the club, and just maybe you can find it. Or you can just hack the security, provided you invested in that ability.

--------------------

When the fighting starts, we can't see whether health regenerates, and if so, if it's thanks to an augmentation, meaning not everyone's Adam may enjoy it. The hero fights through the docks, enemies try to hide behind boxes, the hero also hugs one, and the camera once again switches into TPP mode and stays that way even while aiming. We can also see how Adam jumps from one cover to another, sliding in like Marcus Fenix.

It only gets hot when a helicopter arrives, dropping a box into the warehouse. Instead of putting combat bots into crates for transport, clever engineers have devised a sort of transformer - suddenly the box sprouts legs, a minigun and a rocket launching cannon. We can think of only one scene now: Motoko Kusanagi's robot fight near the end of Ghost in the Shell. Cyberpunk maniacs will cry tears of joy.

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THE FUTURE IS NOW

Deus Ex looks like a Blade Runner fan's wet dream, but it's even better than that It's set in 2027 - art director Jacques-Belletete reminds us - it's not science-fiction, it's just waiting for the changes the future will bring. Think what it was like 17 years ago - we didn't use cell phones or the internet, LED 3D tv sets, we flew planes that were technologically not much better than cars produced today. We don't want a world totally detached from reality, in twenty years we'll still be driving four-wheeled cars with one steering wheel. This philosophy will be visible in Detroit, one of the many cities appearing in the game, today almost abandoned, but one of the hearts of America in the golden days of the american motor industry. Born in Detroit, David Sarif decided to bring the city back to its former glory by opening his corporation's factories there. He brought a renaissance to Detroit. - Belletete continues.

Sarif bought old, abandoned factories that once produced cars, and started building his cyber-empire there. Walking through the city, the player will notice old brick tenements right beside modern scyscrapers illuminated by strong lights which give them a sterile, cybernetic look. You can already see that in Scandinavia or Japan. We bought thousands of dollars worth of architecture books, and the skyscraper projects we found there... Maaan, they're planning to build stuff so weird within the next 5-10 years that if you saw them in our game, you'd say "you went a bit too far with the sci-fi". And that's the thing, we didn't, do some research, and you'll see the sort of crazy projects starting right now.

Still, the developers allowed themselves some creative madness ("after all, it's just a game") in designing the double-layered city on an island, Shanghai. It's a sort of Silicon Valley of biocybernetics, within a short time dozens of companies have moved there and they ran out of space, and the chinese government did'n allow them to expand to neighbouring islands, fearing monopoly. The solution? Construction of a "second floor" was started, creating a double-decker city. Jensen strolled around the lower part, where sunlight is blocked out. Crowds of chinese-speaking people, narrow, neon-lit alleys, restaurants without walls or windows, outdoors yet indoors, chinese logos - Blade Runner inspirations are felt at every step. The only thing missing is rain.

THE JAPANESE ARE WATCHING

Square Enix recently acquired Eidos, and immediately turned attention to the Montreal studio, opened merely 3 years ago, the new Deus Ex game being the first of their three planned projects (the second one is Thief 4, the third one is a secret). Deus Ex is not a widely known franchise today, so it's almost like creating a new IP, so logically the studio would be first for a possible shutdown. We were first visited by Yoichi Wada, the boss of Square Enix, he wanted to assess our work culture. - reveals producer Anfossi. That was a stressful experience. Later, we were visited weekly by Square Enix people, even Kitase-san, the Final Fantasy producer, we met the entire FF team. We're great fans, and they liked our game, especially the futuristic technology projects.

Being complimented by Kitase only further convinced Anfossi that everything's heading in a good direction. Making an big-budget game costs 30 million dollars, and that's not counting the marketing budget, so you have to try to reach new audiences. So that's probably why games are getting easier, but I'm not one who believes in hand-holding. Just immerse yourself in our world and learn everything on your own. Anyway, I've got a very experienced crew, on average each of them's been making games for 10 years now. We know what we want to achieve, we stay true to the series and we innovate. And I hope it works. And if it does, we can count on another sequel. Fingers crossed.[]

He updated the little blurbs:

Quote:

LOWER YOUR WEAPON, LET'S TALK

When I write about a game being directed at a mature audience, not necessarily of gamers, and it's an FPS, I always wonder if it doesn't come off as babble. The casual might swallow Heavy Rain, where he doesn't have to master the controls, but a shooter won't convince him even with the best story. But, Human Revolution is not really a shooter. It can be, if you want to, but it doesn't have to. Investing in the "social" class allows you to bypass many obstacles in a peaceful way, through dialogue. You don't have to shoot. Actually - nod to the previous games here - you can finish the whole game without killing anyone except a few bosses. And those fights don't have to be difficult for two reasons. First is the adjustable dificulty level, which lets even sunday players finish the game without breaking a sweat. Second, one of the augmentations presented was a target lock-on - Equipped with a bazooka, Jensen locked onto the target, faced the other way and shot, and the rocket found its way itself. Let's just hope this doesn't spoil the fun for the hardcore. There has to be some challenge.

CYBER MUSIC

Moody, slow rhythm, a few bass notes, various strings, but mostly asian. The music will be very atmospheric, unless it's there to stress violent fighting. The composer is Michael McCann, known for his Splinter Cell: Double Agent soundtrack and various TV series scores. Why him? Simple, he's not just a great musician, he also lives in Montreal, so he's available to the three person (in a development team team of 130!) sound team almost 24 hours a day. Apparently, he got so involved that it's hard for him to stop working.

I had the chance of listening to a sample of McCann's work and I'm impressed. Aside from the aforementioned, moody piece with the violin, I was enchanted by the pulsating music in club Hive, where Adam was looking for Tom. I imagined it in a scene like this: people dancing, the hero walks past them through the smoke, the camera alternating between his face and his legs, add shots of the dancers, and all that in slow-mo. It doesn't look as good in-game, barely anyone's dancing, the few clubgoers rather talk than dance. But the music rules, and I haven't even mentioned the best: some chinese girl wailing on the vocals.

BIG GUN MADE BY...

Similarily to Ghost Recon, the weapons designs are based on real ones. The designers tried to imagine how weapons will look 20 years from now. The effect, as you can see, is breathtaking.

For the purposes of the game, a hundred fictious companies were created, with their own logos and typography, and this includes weapons manufacturers. Looking at a rifle, the player will see who made it, and may later find containers with the same logo and think "hey, I had a piece made by them". This pertains to everything: cars, phones, TV sets, clothes. Creating all this was required titanic amounts of work, so was it worth it? A different company probably wouldn't allow something like this. - says Belletete - But we wanted to create a believable world. Many players won't even notice this, but subconsciously, your brain will catch that, because logotypes are all around us, they're a natural element of reality. Besides, thanks to them you won't complain about the world's sterility, just like the renaissance elements add awe to the settings.

DIFFICULT QUESTIONS

Writer Mary De Marle knows that think for the players is not the way to go. You should give them the chance to answer questions arising from the story by themselves. It's not our job to tell you, if modifying the human body through technology is bad - claims De Merle strongly and explains: Our themes reference the Icarus myth. Can man become something more than he could ever be and what are the consequences?

The author also tries to explore why people do certain things, to understand their behaviour. Her theory is that it's all because of the need to control something: the market, precious technology, human evolution, even truth and lies. In time, the player will learn to recognize the motivations of all characters, because they will fall into one category or another.

Human Revolution seems like a good book indeed, good thing that the author does not want to stroke her grey beard and moralize.

DIFFERENT, THUS INTRIGUING

Deus Ex is being made on the last Tomb Raider's engine and looks great. Maye it's not the most powerful engine around, but where the tech doesn't manage, unique world design helps. Cyber-renaissance is something new, something you haven't seen anywhere else, and that's what makes it compelling and to people, picques their curiosity. - explains Belletete. It was the same with BioShock, I was shocked to see that guy in an early XX century diving suit and a sick looking girl with a giant syringe, and I wanted to know more about that straight away. BioShock's success only strenghtened the Montreal team's conviction that they made the right choice with cyber-renaissance. And where did the insane attention to detail come from? Even if players don't notice the detail, they subconsciously register it, which makes the world seem more believable. Even the smallest details were taken into account, the look of bus stops or washing machines, or even the way parts of different appliances are connected.

I noteced another thing, while Jensen was strolling through the streets of Shanghai, and that's the ubiquitous fog (or was it smog). It's one of the cyberpunk archetypes, we had to have awesome fog, that you can even cast shadows on. Remember Blade Runner, the smokey interiors. And one more thing, the hero will have two sets of work clothes. Commando Adam looks like a futuristic Sam Fisher or Solid Snake, and Urban Adam, dressed in an elegant, navy blue coat, reminds of James Bond. You can walk into a superexpensive hotel in that coat, book a room, and you'll fit right in.[/i] boasts Belletete. The playability is in the details?

ALMOST BALE

Jensen's is voiced by Elias Toufexis. I checked him out on youtube, he sounds completely different in the game. He's got such raspy, mumbling voice I mistook him for Christian Bale. He was supposed to be that sort of tough guy, Bale or Eastwood style. - explains Steve Sczepkowski (his father is a Pole, but Steve doesn't speak polish), responsible for music and sound. The idea was that every character should speak in interesting ways, maybe with accents. I watched X-Files, and by the end of the last season I didn't know who was who, all in black, all work for the government. How do I distinguish between them? I didn't want to make that mistake in Deus Ex, so even if you don't remember the name of a girl you met, when you see her six hours later, you'll say "it's the one with the russian accent". I like this argumentation.